[ginger milk]

Dinner 14-09-04

Hisop was set up 31/2 years ago and is one of a growing trend of restaurants in Barcelona based on imaginative, modern cuisine, described to us as the El Bulli effect.

Unfortunately on this evening Barca were playing in the Champions League so the restaurant was empty barring one other table. The dining room is bright with white walls and deep red panels lined with a black trim. Red roses are dotted around the walls and throughout the other arrangements within the restaurant.

We decided on the degustation menu @ €43 as we sampled a small glass of Manzanilla.

Cockles with melon and rosemary – Two of the plumpest cockles I’ve seen tasting freshly of the sea, served slightly warm, encircled by the cold melon soup with an essence of rosemary. A light start with the mildness of the melon and hint of rosemary allowing the cockles to shine.

Sardine with strawberry and raspberry – A fillet of sardine, again as fresh as a daisy, twisted around a single raspberry with some interest added by the dried skeleton of a sardine protruding from the fillet. This added a crunch to the dish and a saltiness to counteract the sweet strawberry jus. Good.

Panfried scallop, crispy pork, catalan cream – Nicely cooked scallop alongside a nugget of belly shaped and cooked to resemble the scallop, crispy on the outside gooey within. A lovely dish.

Hake, aubergine puree, hazelnut emulsion, goats cheese sorbet - Another lovely piece of fish this time presented with two different purees. The sorbet was intensely flavoured and salty but worked really well with some dried tomato slices though I’m not sure it was doing much for the fish . Pleasant without being stunning.

Duck with three pineapples – A wedge of breast cooked rare served with a cube of natural pineapple scattered with crispy nuts, grilled carpaccio with slightly caramelised nicely bitter edges, and a streak of puree. A lovely rich duck jus and wild mushroomes sautéed in saffron (for colour) completed the dish. Very good.

Next up was a cheese course consisting of 5 or so local cheeses that came with a lovely jelly that was followed by:

Mint Infusion, Caiprinha sorbet – A take on the Brazilian cocktail, very vibrant and refreshing.

Chocolate mousse, caramelised banana and sorbet, cinnamon egg white – This was presented layered in a single glass and largely tasted of banana. Pleasant but the most average dish of the evening.


Plenty of good bread was served throughout the savoury section of the meal and service from the maitre’d Jose was friendly but professional at all times.

Final bill was €123 including a bottle of Albarino (recommended well below our suggested budget).

I found this good value for a meal including plenty of interesting flavour and texture combinations.

[Vanessa]

Good reading P&F, plenty more to come I hope

v

[ginger milk]

A few, with tonnes of photos if only our pc wasn't busted

[Wilfrid1]

Thanks for the write up. What part of town was this in?

[ginger milk]

Wilfrid, on Sep 21 2004, 03:58 PM, said:

Thanks for the write up.  What part of town was this in?

Oops, meant to inlude a link.

[Wilfrid1]

I finally made it.

Hisop reviewed at the Pink Pig.

[rohandaft]

I've never understood how Sauc got a Michelin star and Hisop didn't. I guess that's still the case? That said, the last time I went to Hisop I had to go into the kitchen to find someone to ask for the bill. But then again, the last time I went to Sauc a waiter put up a step ladder next to our table when we were half way through dinner and proceeded to clank empty bottles around in an overhead locker for ten minutes. There would be a lot more Michelin stars and the like all around if the Spanish and Catalans could get their act together with the service.

[Wilfrid1]

Cinc Sentits was about the best service we had, although of course I am going on the evidence of only one dinner.

[rohandaft]

Cinc Sentits was about the best service we had, although of course I am going on the evidence of only one dinner.

I've heard some good things about Cinc Sentits but haven't eaten there. That the owner is - I think - Canadian might have something to do with the good service. The worst - bad tempered and begrudging - service I've recently experienced at a high end place in Barcelona was at Alkimia, where I've now eaten six times. The food was great but the service completely ruined it. The chef's (Jordi Vila?) wife/partner - the usual maitre - wasn't there, but that's no excuse. Perhaps I should have posted this on a 'Memorable Spanish/Catalan service' thread?

[Wilfrid1]

My seven year old daughter was led into the kitchen by our waiter twice during the evening, and the kitchen staff gleefully posed for pictures with her. Yes, a very friendly, relaxed atmosphere.

The only service issue I had on this trip to Spain was at Casa Enrique in Granada, where the food is terrific but the bar-tenders are rigorously and deliberately unhelfpul to anyone out of town, including Spanish-speakers. I've been lucky in Barcelona so far.

Thanks for reading along, Rohan. I'll be posting some Granada reviews in the Pink Pig next week.

[rohandaft]

My seven year old daughter was led into the kitchen by our waiter twice during the evening, and the kitchen staff gleefully posed for pictures with her. Yes, a very friendly, relaxed atmosphere.

The only service issue I had on this trip to Spain was at Casa Enrique in Granada, where the food is terrific but the bar-tenders are rigorously and deliberately unhelfpul to anyone out of town, including Spanish-speakers. I've been lucky in Barcelona so far.

Thanks for reading along, Rohan. I'll be posting some Granada reviews in the Pink Pig next week.

I don't know Casa Enrique - I'll read your review and check it out the next time I'm in Granada. One place I do know in Granada which I like very much - for the service as much as anything - is Chikito. The maitre (and owner), Luis Oruezabal, is a genius - one of the very best. Back to Hisop... Try the 'caramelized' olives. You usually get them at the end of the degustacion. But not always. Sometimes you have to ask.

[Wilfrid1]

Oh, Rohan - I had a terrible meal at Chikito this time. Sorry. Review in due course.

Yes, we got the caramelised olives. I see I called them "sugared olives" in the review. Notes get a bit hazy at that end of a tasting.

[rohandaft]

Oh, Rohan - I had a terrible meal at Chikito this time. Sorry. Review in due course.

Yes, we got the caramelised olives. I see I called them "sugared olives" in the review. Notes get a bit hazy at that end of a tasting. :blush:

That's very sad to hear. I ate the rabo de toro there a couple of times last April and enjoyed it - and the place in general - very much. I look forward to your review. Did you try Sevilla (the restaurant)?

[Wilfrid1]

We had lunch there - good paella.